Officials issue State of Emergency in St Louis County amid unrest in Ferguson

St. Louis County police officers respond in an MRAD vehicle after shots were fired during a protest march on August 9, 2015 on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Missouri Michael B. Thomas/AFP/Getty Images

Darren Wilson killed the teenager on 9 August 2014. However, a grand jury and the US department of justice decided not to prosecute him. He later resigned in November.

Michael Brown Senior, the late 18-year-old’s father, led a rally in the city, thanked supporters for not allowing his son’s killing to be “swept under the carpet”, and observed four and a half minutes of silence.

By nightfall, the scene transformed as a crowd of dozens of protesters blocked traffic and smashed store windows along West Florissant Avenue, which bore the brunt of last summer's rioting, chanting "Shut it down."

Riot police arrived in heavily armed vehicles at the scene where Harris people was shot.

The teenager’s was one of many similar fatal police shootings of unarmed black men that have highlighted racial tensions in the US and sparked a nation-wide Black Lives Matter movement.